U of L expects to lose assistant Jones to Cal

The University of Louisville basketball staff already lost video coordinator Doug Davenport to an assistant coaching job at Eastern Kentucky this week, and now the Cardinals are planning on another departure in the coming days.

Assistant coach Wyking Jones is poised to take an assistant job on California coach Cuonzo Martin's staff, several U of L sources said Friday.

Jones joined Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville in 2011, helping the Cards reach two Final Fours and win a national title in 2013. A former assistant at New Mexico and Pepperdine, Jones played professional basketball overseas for six years. He was also a travel team manager for Nike's Elite Youth Basketball program. He played his college ball at Loyola Marymount.

He's replacing former Cal assistant Jon Harris, who took the head coaching job at SIU-Edwardsville earlier this month.

U of L replaced Kevin Keatts last spring with ace recruiter Kenny Johnson. This year, Pitino is expected to look for an experienced coach who knows his system, particularly because of Louisville's young 2015-16 roster and his own busy schedule this summer with the Puerto Rican national team.

Before hiring Johnson, Pitino said he reached out to former assistant Ralph Willard, who coached under Pitino with the New York Knicks, Kentucky and Louisville. Willard, Pitino said, advised him to hire a talented recruiter instead, and the U of L coach chased Johnson.

Pitino could try again to convince Willard to return to U of L. Willard, 69, was a head coach at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross, and his experience both as a coach and with Pitino's playing style make him a possibility.

Herb Sendek, who was fired as Arizona State's coach in late March, could make sense, too. Sendek worked under Pitino at Providence College and Kentucky.